Read how Microsoft Dynamics is using LinkedIn Communities to create brand engagement and leads.

More and more companies are facing the problem that they don’t have email permission to reach all their potential customers. Your own LinkedIn community can be a very powerful platform to engage with your audience in a professional way.

Microsoft Dynamics asked Blue Business and our partner The Social Effect to create and manage two communities – one in Canada and one in the US when launching the new cloud based ERP platform Dynamics 365 Financials. The target group is Certificed Public Accountant (CPA’s), and our research quickly revealed that there are more than 1,000 communities targeting CPA’s, so how do you create a successful community?

Our research also revealed that most of these communities were in fact more broadcast communities with only one-way communication

One of the tricks is careful planning and research into the needs of the target groups, getting the positioning of the community right, and having the right balance between branded and non-branded content. The role of the community manager in moderating the members’ views, provide relevant content and nurture them until they show a clear interest in the product is one of the tricks to create a community where the members truly engage.

And the commercial arguments for a LinkedIn community are strong: not only do you increase awareness, but you develop a relationship and ultimately that relationship is so strong that you convert an interest into a lead that is passed on to the sales department.

Strong growth and high ROIAfter 5 months more than 2,300 highly relevant individuals have joined the two communities and the growth in membership is continuing. In late November, we received a challenge from Microsoft; can you double the growth in membership before Christmas and reach a certain minimum for one of the two communities. 8 days before Christmas we reached the target and since January 2017 we have been following a growth strategy for the two communities.

Contact us to discuss the opportunity for building communities for your target market.